Minutes for UWM Mortar Board

September 12, 2010 Meeting Notes

Mortar Board Meeting Minutes

September 12, 2010

 

Hand-outs of schedule for the year

Firstbook

·   We raise funds and put them towards a certain region

·   We get choose the school the funds go to

·   We have a table reserved on Tuesday, September 21st from 4-6pm. Hopefully we can gain corporate sponsors from those students who work full-time and take night classes

·   For more information, contact Andrew Tilley: ajtilley@uwm.edu

Point system

·   Working volunteer events (15)

·   Attending meetings (10)

·   Bake Sales (10 for donating, 15 for tabling)

·   Social events (10)

·   Coming up with service event (40)

·   60 points needed for December graduation, 120 for May graduation

T-Shirts

·   5 points if you wear them to a meeting

·   If you want a shirt, we need to know by this Friday, September 17th 

·   Cost is $10-15, depending on what style shirt you’d like; payments should go to the Mortar Board mailbox

·   For more information, contact Allyssa Knoebel: knoebela@uwm.edu

Service events (Julia Keyes, Service Chair)

·   Komen’s Race for the Cure – race sign-up fell through at last minute

o   Race Day ambassadors; help answer questions for racers from 7-9:30am; training on Saturday at 11am, but it’s okay if you can’t make the training)

·   Thursday September 23rd: UWM Blood drive

o   Help at table 9-5, will get confirmation email from Julia

·   Blood Drive in November (we’d sponsor)

·   WPA Blue Collar Ball at Harley Davidson Museum; noon-11pm

·   AIDS walk on Sunday, September 19th – free registration

·   If you have any ideas for service events, contact Julia Keyes: jnkeyes@uwm.edu

Introductions

 

Brewers game

·   Next week Friday, September 24; 7:10 start time

·   Get to know each other!

·   Carpooling can be arranged

·   Meet across from the union at 4:45

o   For those who have class that go past that time, there will be at least one car leaving later, so we can accommodate for everyone

·   We will provide all food, rides, and tickets for MB members (you can bring your own alcohol if you want to)

·   If you’d like to bring a guest, it’s $15 (proceeds will go towards our organization)

·   We need to know by this Friday, September 17th – email Katlyn Russell: katlyn@uwm.edu

Fundraising events

·   Table for next week , on the 22nd: bake sale 10-4:30 (for working the table or donating a baked good, contact Allyssa: knoebela@uwm.edu)

·   Restaurant donations; ideas in the works

·   Brat sales – spots fill up pretty quickly, looking into it (maybe October?)

Future events

·   Date Doctor; possible funding through SAO for spring semester

o   Help get the word out about Mortar Board, who we are and what we do

·   Rak-a-Thon, Turkey for a Day (keep them in mind!)

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:38

Next Meeting: Tuesday, October 5 @ 7pm, Union Room 345 B+C

2/3/10 Meeting Minutes

*Information Sessions

• We will be holding information sessions for Juniors eligible for Mortar Board to come and learn more about the organization before they submit their applications.
• The times for the info sessions are as follows:

-Tuesday, February 9th: 11-2 in Union 147

-Wednesday, February 10th: 5:30-7 in Union 343

-Thursday, February 11th: 12-3 in Union 343

• Thank you to everybody who said they were available to help out!  I’ll be in contact with everyone who signed up to confirm the times that they are available and send out a schedule as soon as possible!

 

*New Member Applications

• Katie mailed out all 2137 postcards to eligible members inviting them to apply.  We have received about 15 applications already, and 12-13 people indicated interest in the info sessions.
• The deadline for applications is February 24th at 4:00
• Since the invitations were sent out, we’ve received over 2000 views on our website!

 

*Membership Selection

·       This is one of the biggest and most important events we do all year, so it is mandatory for all members.

·       It will be held on Saturday, February 27th in the Fireside Lounge starting at 9:00AM.

·       Everybody in the group needs to attend and read every application submitted by the Juniors; the specifics of the selection process will be announced the day of the event.

·       Food will be provided for this event.  We are thinking of either bringing in pizza or having a potluck meal.  If anyone has any preference, please let us know!

 

*Tapping

• Tapping will go on March 8th-March 12th.
• Tapping involves going to the lectures of those members who have been selected for next year’s class and calling them out in front of everybody.
• We asked those who submitted applications to attach their schedules so we would know which time would be most convenient for this.
• We need to send emails out to the professors asking permission to do this.
• The dress will be black pants and our Mortar Board shirts.
• If anybody is interested, please let me know!

 

*Initiation

• We are trying to get the Wisconsin Room or the Fireside Lounge to hold the initiation ceremony in for this year.
• The tentative dates for this are either April 10th or April 11th, depending on when the rooms are available.  We want to reserve them from 10-3 so we have some flexibility with scheduling the start and end times.
• The Union Ballroom cost over $1000 to rent out for the ceremony, but the Wisconsin Room and the Fireside Lounge are free to use. 
• We were thinking of eliminating the cake at the ceremony.  It cost about $800 and the Union charged us $150 last year just for them to set it up.  Because parents are attending, we have to use food provided by Union Catering Services.  We have a menu that we will bring either to the next meeting or to the Membership Selection meeting and choose something else to serve.
• Last year’s class increased the membership fee by $20, and that extra money went into our class’s bank account so we wouldn’t be left broke when they graduated.  We were considering doing this again.

 

*Officer Training

• We will have a sheet that new members can fill out at their initiation with dates and times that they are available to attend their first meeting before the semester ends.
• During this time, they will select their new officers and learn about the flower sale in May.

 

*Books

• Steven and Adam have been picking up the remainder of the books from our book drive.
• We need to sort out the books we can donate to the school from those we can’t.  We were thinking of doing this very quickly during the Membership Selection meeting.
• We received a lot of books that were not age appropriate, as well as a lot of handbooks/guidebooks.  We are thinking of selling these to Half-Price Books and adding that money to the Turkey for a Day fund.

 

*Books and Turkey for a Day money drop-off

• Pierce Elementary School is the school receiving our donations.
• We are trying to find a day that works well for the school and as many of our members as possible so we can go and drop off the books and the money to them personally (maybe a Friday afternoon?)

 

*Flowers

• We made $1470 from the flowers from Blossom Express, and about $200 from the flowers we bought on our own.
• The percentage we get to keep from the selling of Blossom Express’s flowers has not been determined.  We will let you know our net profit when we speak to the company and get the finances straightened out.

*Services

·       There is a blood drive on February 10th from 9-5.  If you are available to table, please let April know (aerammer@uwm.edu).  If you can’t table but still want to donate, you can sign up at www.bcw.edu/uwmfeb

·       We are also holding a charity drive for Pathfinders, a nearby youth shelter, during the month of February.  April will be sending out more details about this later.

·       The College Program

-Heather Champagne sent out an email to everybody regarding this service event that will take place every Saturday from February 13th-March 27th.  Please read this email for specific details and email me if you didn’t receive it.

-We need at least 6 people at this event every weekend in order for this to work.  If you are interested, please email her (champag4@uwm.edu) soon and only if you are absolutely sure you will show up!

• Willegal Wheat Tapping

-This is a fundraising event held at the Rock Bottom Brewery this Friday, February 5th starting at 7:00.

-It is held in memory of Emily Willegal, a supervisor, bartender, and server at the Rock Bottom Brewery who was killed during an attack and sexual assault.

-Every year they brew a special beer called Willigal Wheat beer in her honor.

-There is also a raffle and sale of specialty beer that goes on throughout the night.

-Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

-All proceeds go to The Healing Center, a place for support and advocacy of those affected by sexual assault.

-This is considered a service event, so if you are short on points and want to earn some by going out, please consider attending!

-Steven is selling tickets and has more information if you are interested (macdona7@uwm.edu).

 

 

12/2/09 Minutes

*Elections

• Adam Norris will be our new Treasurer for the spring semester.
• Stacee Goedtel will be our new Social Chair for the spring semester.

 

*Book Drive

• A schedule is being made with Half Price Books to pick up their donations to our book drive.  It will likely be on Friday, December 11th and Friday, December 18th sometime in the afternoon.  If anyone has a car and is willing to help Katie pick them up, please email me or her (nonweil2@uwm.edu)
• Remember, donating books is a really easy way to get points, so if you donated anything, please let me know and I will award them to you.
• Some of the books that were donated were not age appropriate (some were intended for high schoolers or adults), so Steven is going to talk to a contact he has at Barnes & Noble to see if they can do a book exchange so we can get age appropriate books.

 

 

*School

• We have chosen Franklin Pierce Elementary School as the school that will be receiving our Turkey for a Day fundraising money and the book donations.
• We are thinking of making the second grade and the fifth grade classes our “adopted classes” who will receive the majority of our curriculum book donations.

 

*Fundraising

• Quad Graphics has a program where the company matches any donation that an employee makes to a non-profit organization
• Nate is going to try and get some donations from this company for Franklin Pierce.

 

*Flower Sale

• Nate will let us know when the flowers will arrive for us to pick them up.
• The Commencement Ceremony is on Sunday, December 20th.  The ceremony starts at 2:00.
• Katie will send out an email requesting volunteers for this event once she has all of the information.
• This is a mandatory event, so everyone must give some of their time to volunteering.  The more people we have participate, the quicker we can get done and get back to studying for finals.
• Planned attire for this event will be black pants and our Mortar Board shirts.

 

 

*Bake Sale

• Dates: December 8th from 10-2 and December 9th from 9-12:30 in the Union.
• Please let me know if anyone can table for this event.  We have Tuesday covered, but we could still use some more help on Wednesday if anybody is interested.
• For those of you who are willing to donate baked goods, please email Ali (lemmenes@uwm.edu) and she will let you know when you should drop off your desserts. 
• You get points for each dessert you bring in, so if you don’t think you’re going to make the minimum point requirement for this semester, please consider donating.

 

*Membership

• We are trying to schedule a day where we can get together and read the applications for next year’s class.
• Everyone has to read every application submitted and we have to vote on it as a group.  There has to be a certain number of people voting on the applications in order to make the selection process valid, so we need everyone’s participation.
• We are planning on doing it in the Fireside Lounge on a Saturday in either late February or early March.  There will be food.
• We are planning on sending postcard mailings out inviting eligible individuals to apply.  The website for the application will be on the postcard.
• Tentative deadlines: January 11th is when the postcards should be sent out.  February 26th is when applications are due.

 

*Community Service Events

• Bell Ringing goes on through Christmas.  Please email me if you have plans to do it.
• Sojourner House Wish Drive next semester.  More details on that to come.
• Blood Drives will take place February 10th and April 20th

 

*Next Semester Meetings

• Please let Katie know which days would be most convenient to hold meetings for next semester.  We are planning on holding two a month like this semester, but we want to pick days that are most convenient for the majority of members.  The sooner you can get this into her the better.

11/16/2009 Minutes

*Advisor Introduction

• Holly Bern will be serving as the second advisor for our organization.
• She was the president of her Mortar Board chapter at the University of California-Santa Barbara.
• She currently holds her MFA and is becoming a short story writer.

 

*Turkey for a Day

• This year we are getting the turkey costumes from Kim’s Costumes.
• Originally, the costume we ordered had a headpiece that covered the person’s entire face; we didn’t think professors would want to lecture without the students being able to see them, so Kim is offering to make us a brand new headpiece at no charge.
• The winning professors for this year are Dr. Mark Kean (Architecture) and Mrs. Gloria Freschl (Chemistry).
• We have yet to determine which school will be receiving our donation.  Steven is contacting the Milwaukee Public School system to determine which school would most benefit from our donations.
• Curriculum books will be purchased with the money raised, and the books collected through the book drive will go into the school’s library.
• Half-Price Books is also willing to donate books to us every Friday.  We will be picking those up on a weekly basis for the duration of the fundraiser.

 

*Blood Drive

• Here is a list of the people who have volunteered to table for this event on 11/23.  We could still use some extra help, so if you have any time available to table, please let me know!

Linda Netherland: 10:00-12:00

Kyle Bilot: 12:00-1:00

Crystal Custalow: 1:00-2:00

Heather Champagne: 3:00-5:00

Laura Mueller: 3:30-5:00

• We will also be tabling this Thursday (11/19) from 1:30-3:30 to promote the event, so if you are willing to help out with that please let me know.

 

*Salvation Army

• We will be participating in the Salvation Army bell ringing this year
• A list of areas where you can ring are found on at http://milwaukeesa.volunteerfirst.org/public/.  However, if you do not live in the area and will not be here to volunteer for the holidays, you are more than welcome to do it at another location closer to your home.  Please just send me an email letting me know that you participated so I can give you points.
• They ask that you volunteer for a two hour time block.
• You can do it with as many people as you want to, and they do not have to be from Mortar Board.
• If you have trouble finding transportation, please contact Katie (nonweil2@uwm.edu) and she will be sure you find a ride.
• The bells, aprons, and collecting jar will be provided for you.  If the materials aren’t there when you arrive, there will be a number to call on the outside of the collection pole; call them and they will bring you the materials.
• We also have the opportunity the help at the Salvation Army Toy Shop either on 12/12 or 12/19.  However, the location is relatively far away (5880 N. 60th St), and with all of the other volunteer events going on, as well as finals approaching, we are not sure what the group turnout will be like.  Please let Katie know if you would be interested in doing this, otherwise we will just stick to our previously scheduled volunteer activities.

 

*Bake Sale

• We will be having a bake sale in the Union on 12/8 from 10-2.  We have Steven and Ali helping table that day, but if anyone else can help we would really appreciate it. 
• We also need people to bring in baked goods.  Katie will be sending out a sign-up sheet later this week where you can let us know what you will be bringing and when you will be dropping it off.
• We reserved a second table on Wednesday 12/9 from 9-11:30 in the event that we do not sell all of the baked goods and want to sell the following day.  If you can table during this time, let me know.

 

*Officers

• We will be needing a new Treasurer and new Social Chair for the spring semester. 
• If more than one person is interested, we will be having elections at the December 2 meeting, so email me your nomination and be prepared to give a short speech to the group.

11/4/2009 Minutes

*Introductions to Kyla Moore

·        She will be acting as our new advisor for the remainder of the year.
·        She is an advisor of the Office of Undergraduate Research.
·        She was a member of Mortar Board at Hope College.



*Turkey for a Day

·We are finding that a lot of professors are willing to promote the fundraiser, but do not want to dress up in the turkey suit should their class collect the most money.

·We are trying to use incentives like Pizza Shuttle coupons or Noodles coupons to get people to donate who are in classes with professors unwilling to participate.

·We are also looking to collect private donations from small businesses and other companies.

-A corporate letter will be sent out to them asking for a donation.  If you have any businesses you would like to suggest we send a letter to, please let us know.

 

*Book Drive

·        Boxes are going out today (11/9) in Physics, Architecture, and Bolton
·        We are thinking of chalking the sidewalks sometime this week or next week to remind people to donate.


*Blood Drive

·        We are co-sponsoring another blood drive on November 23rd from 9:00-5:00.  A volunteer sign up list will be sent out sometime soon.

 
*December Graduation

·        For those of you who are graduating in December and haven’t responded to Katie’s email yet, please let her know as soon as possible whether or not you are planning on graduating early.  We want to put an order in for your stoles.
 

*Grants

·        The deadline for grants was October 30th, and the forms were not turned in.  We were not able to get any money through grants this year.

·        We are planning on talking to the committee and are going to try and submit the forms late.

·        Without them, the membership selection process for next year’s class will be very expensive, so fundraising will be extremely important for the remainder of the year.

·        We are planning on having a bake sale on Tuesday, December 8th from 10-2.  The table will be in the Union, and we will need help running the table as well as help with donating baked goods.

 

*Membership

·        Kyla is going to look into the possibility of emailing next year’s candidates rather than sending out letters to save on postage

10/19/2009 Minutes

*Turkey for a Day

• Our Turkey for a Day fundraiser will begin in two weeks.

-Our tentative dates to have the teachers dress up in their turkey suits is November 19th and 20th

• We still need some help delivering letters to the professors.  If anyone is willing to help distribute letters to professor’s mailboxes, please contact Katie (nonweil2@uwm.edu)
• We are thinking of doing tabling in the Union during the fundraiser.  I am going to try and get tables from 10:00-2:00 on November 3rd, 4th, 11th, and 12th, but these dates and times may vary according to availability of space in the Union.  I’ll send out an email with more details later today.

-If anyone is available to help with the tabling, please let Ali know (lemmenes@uwm.edu) know.  We especially need the help on Wednesdays!

 

*Book Drive

• I will be contacting the offices of different buildings around campus to see if we can set up collection boxes for this part of the fundraiser.
• Corinne is able to provide the boxes, but they will need to be decorated to say who we are and the purpose of the fundraiser.  More specifics on when and were this will occur are to come.

*Blood Drive

• We are planning on co-sponsoring another blood drive on November 23rd along with the Nursing Students Association and Golden Key Honors Society.
• Sign-ups for this will be available at a later date.

 

*December Graduation

• Let us know if you are graduating in December so we can order your stole.
• For those graduating early, I will send you an email when you have reached 60 points letting you know your stole will be paid for .

10/07/2009 Minutes

*Introduction

• Snowball fight

 

*Officer Recap: Vice President

• Kaylah Moore, the advisor for UROP, will be our head advisor for the year.  She was not able to make the meeting today, but will be able to attend our Monday evening meetings.

-She was a former member of Mortar Board and got a grant from the National organization to attend Graduate School, so if anyone is interested in this opportunity, she would be an excellent resource

 

*Officer Recap: Treasurer

• Nate contacted Blossom Express about our Flower Sale from last spring

-We had to give back way more of our earnings from that fundraiser to Blossom Express than we had anticipated

-Because we have a contract with the company for a couple more years, we have to continue working with them

-We changed the order for next year so we will be ordering the minimum amount of flowers from them, leaving us more freedom to pick up our own flowers from local grocery stores

• Our club’s balance is around $1300, which is a nice start, but we NEED fundraising ideas.  If anybody has anything they would like to contribute, please let our fundraising chair, Ali, know (lemmenes@uwm.edu)

-Running a fundraising event gives you 40 points; you only need 60 points by the end of the semester to have your graduation stole paid for, so it would be in your best interest to consider doing this!

• Nate will be graduating in December, so we will need a new Treasurer.  If there is anyone interested in learning about the position and would consider taking his place for Spring semester, please let him know (nayahn@uwm.edu)

 

*Officer Recap: Fundraising Chair

• Ali needs a committee to help out for Turkey for a Day next month.  We already have some people who have volunteered, but the more people willing to help out, the less work each individual has to do to get everything accomplished.

 

*Officer Recap: Membership Chair

• If anyone is interested in joining a membership committee, please let Tiffany know (toyelowo@uwm.edu)

-The time commitment for this committee will be minimal this semester, but will be much greater in the spring when it comes time to choose members for next year’s class.  If you think you will have the time to devote to this next semester, please consider joining this.

 

*Officer Recap: Community Service

• AIDS walk is this Sunday, October 11th

-If you are signed up for the Mortar Board team, we will meet at the registration table at 11:00 AM

-There is still time to register for this event; you can register the day of, or you can go to the website and register online

-Ideally, we should be gathering pledges for this event, but if you don’t have the time to collect and can just pledge yourself $10, that would help the cause

-Please see the email April sent out today for more information, or go to the website (www.aidswalkwis.org)

• Rak-a-Thon is coming up November 7th
• Another blood drive is scheduled for sometime in November and sign-up sheets will be available once that date approaches

 

*Turkey for a Day

• Named off a list of professors that participated last year
• If you have any professors that you would like to nominate for this year, please send Ali their email addresses and she will send them a letter
• We are also considering posting sign-up sheets in the offices of each department so professors have the option of participating
• The plan is for committee members to go around to the classes of the nominated professors and make announcements about the organization and our reason for fundraising
• We will come and pick up the money from the professors weekly
• The plan is to run this for two weeks, and the winning professor will dress up the week before Thanksgiving break
• Ideally, we would like to have the letters to the professors sent out this weekend requesting their participation, so please email Ali with ideas as soon as possible
• Help is also needed for the book drive that goes along with this

-Committee members would have to set up collection boxes and advertise the event in every major building on campus

-At the end of the week, they would have to pick up the books collected

-We are looking for books appropriate for ages K-8.  You get points for donating books, so we encourage you to give

9/14/2009 Minutes

*Advisors

• We now have three members of the UWM faculty willing to act as our advisors for this year
• Our advisors will be Rachel from the Hebrew Studies department, Nigel Rothfels, the leader of UROP, and Kayla Moore, another member of UROP and former Mortar Board member
• Though they were not able to attend this meeting, they will be at our next meeting to introduce themselves and get involved in our organization

 

*Upcoming Events

A) Blood Drive September 23rd

• We are co-sponsoring the blood drive next week with a sorority
• We are still looking for some help tabling the day of the Blood Drive at 11:00 and 12:00.  If you are able to help, please contact April (aerammer@uwm.edu)

-If you do end up helping out with tabling, remember to wear your Mortar Board T Shirt!  It’s a great way to advertise!

B) AIDS Walk

• The AIDS walk will take place on October 11th
• Registration opens at 10:00, and the walk begins at 12:30
• The walk is 5K and is along the Lakefront.  There will be refreshments and entertainment at the two rest stops along the way
• There is also free parking at the lot near the corner of Harbor Drive and Chicago Street
• For more information, you can go to www.aidswalkwis.org
• We will talk more about getting a Mortar Board team together at a later meeting

C) Rak-A-Thon

• This will take place on November 7th
• More details to come about this event

 

 

*Fundraisers

• Now that we have advisors, we are able to begin fundraising
• Turkey for a Day is the next big fundraising event

-If you have any professors you would like to nominate, please let Katie (nonweil2@uwm.edu) know and we will send them an email asking for their participation

-We’re making a big banner for the event to hang in the Union; if you want to have any input on the design of the banner or have any experience with computer graphics and could help with the design, please let Corinne know (clefeber@uwm.edu)

 

• We are also thinking of holding a book drive during Turkey for a Day      

-The books needed are for grades K-8, though the greatest need is for books for third grade and above

-Series books are GREATLY appreciated, so if you have any series’ for younger children (Ex: The Boxcar Children) please consider donating!

 

*Awards

• Steven attended the National Conference this summer and our chapter won two awards:

1)     The Golden Torch Award for overall excellence in the chapter

2)     The Project Excellence Award for Turkey for a Day (the award also included a check for $100)

 

*New Point System

·       The member with the greatest number of points at the end of the semester will receive a $50 gift certificate to wherever they want! 

·       If you ever have questions about how many points you have, please let me know

 

 

Next Meeting: October 7th at 6:00 in Union 191

8/12/2009 Minutes

*Advisor

• For those of you who didn’t receive the email, Dr. Helen (our previous advisor) is no longer with the University
• We need an advisor in order to be recognized as an official chapter
• Before we can do any type of fundraising, we must have an advisor sign off on it
• If anybody knows any professors who might be willing to be our advisor, let Katie know (she has a list of the job description if you have a professor in  mind, it isn’t a terribly big commitment)

*Fundraising

• We are not allowed to sell food to parents at freshman move-in day unless UWM caters it (some sort of liability issue)
• We can also only use Pepsi products due to a contract that UWM has with the company,  so our rootbeer floats would have to be made with Pepsi products; we are choosing not to try and fundraise during the move-in
• We are thinking of having a bake sale after school starts once we find an advisor to authorize it
• We lost our checkoff funds from the student elections.  The student government decided that with all of the budget cuts, they could save money by not giving student organizations the money

                            -We could appeal for grants
                            -If anyone has experience in writing proposals, please email Katie

• Another fundraising idea is to produce care packages that parents could purchase their kids during finals week

                            -It could contain snacks, coffee, etc. to help kids get through finals
                            -We could only sell it to students who live in the dorms
                            -We have an address list of parents of students in dorms, so we could do a mailing                                         inform them of the offer

 
*Service Projects

• Coming up in September, we have a blood drive and the Hope House Food Pantry
• CVSL provides transportation to the Hope House on Thursdays from 12-2:30
• For the blood drive, everyone could try and donate one hour of their time

                           -Donate blood (if you are able to), head the check-in table, re-stock the cookies, etc
                           -The blood drive is on Wednesday, September 23rd from 9-5

• We are going to work on tabling this semester to help advertise and fundraise (bake sale, info about care packages, etc.)

  Mortar Board Meeting Minutes

6/27/2009
 

*Summer Fundraisers